Evangelion: Aftermath
by There are those who call me
Summary: Following the events of Third Impact, a greater threat to what is left of the world emerges. Shinji is thrown violently and unceremoniously back into a world of conflict before he has a chance to fully recover from his previous battles, whilst the reformed Nerv, Leben, struggles to save the world one last time in the aftermath of the near-apocalypse. ShinjixAsuka sub plot.
1. Chapter 1

**Evangelion: Aftermath**

**Chapter One**

**Day 366**

'Battle stations! Emergency threat alert! This is not a drill! All Leben personnel are called to a full level alert! Repeat: Battle stations! Emergency . . .'

'Well, Shinji, looks like the time's come again.'

'Right. Will you be there with me?'

'Always.'

**Day 0**

Red. Everything was red. The sea was red. The sky was red. The sand was red. Her hair was red. Her eyes were brown in the reflection of the red. Her plug suit was red. Only her skin was not red. Her skin was pale, and fragile. Before he knew, his hands were wrapped around her neck. He was squeezing delicately but with enough force that she felt she could not breathe. He wasn't sure how long he had been holding her neck in his grasp, but now her hand was rising from the floor. Her skin and the bandages rubbed delicately down the side of his face. He was suddenly reminded of his mother, of her last touch before she slipped back into the void of memory. Why was he strangling Asuka? Why was she touching him? To reassure him? Yes, that was it. Now he knew everything was real. Now he saw her alive and moving and seeing and feeling. She was alive. His grasp on her loosened and suddenly he was crying. The tear drops landed and wet her face. Her eyes moved to look at him and he could feel them on his person, seeing into him.

'How disgusting.'

**Day 366**

The sirens were blurring. The remnants of what had been Nerv headquarters was now awash with bodies moving rapidly to and fro in a great panic. Amidst the chaos paced a young boy, who was being dragged along by an equally slow moving young girl. The boy's hair was dark and matted, left to grow a little longer than he would have liked and left dishevelled and uncared for. The girl's hair was long and flowing, and its crimson colour reflected the lights in the ceiling and the walls. The girl was dressed in a battered red suit that fit tight to her figure. The boy was dressed in an old t-shirt and jeans complete with white training shoes. Neither of them looked as well as they wished.

There was a delicate whooshing sound and the doors to the command centre were open. The rush of people was gone now and most had found their stations. All those present stared at the couple in earnest, showing signs of both fear, respect, and concern. They walked at a quickened pace towards the centre of the command centre.

'Shinji, Asuka,' a voice greeted them. It was gentle and familiar, but it had a gravelled tone to it that Shinji had never gotten used to. His old voice had sounded much better.

'Hyuga,' Shinji said with a quiet, shy voice. 'Red level alert, right?

Looking up, Shinji saw Hyuga was doing his best to put on a brave face. He was dressed similarly to how Misato once had, in a red jacket and black shirt. Accompanying this he wore black trousers and formal black shoes, and the jacket was buttoned up rather than left open. Asuka was still gripping Shinji's hand tightly. 'The target was spotted approaching from the southern waterfront. We were lucky Balthazar picked it up when it did.'

'You got it working?' Asuka asked, surprised.

'Indeed. Yesterday afternoon. We're lucky, or the target would have slipped right under our noses. It's not the same without Doctor Akagi, but her notes proved useful enough. We have Maya to thank for it.'

Shinji glanced over at the technician, who was sitting in front of her monitoring station with a glazed over expression. She looked barely animated, and she was staring off into space.

'Anyway,' Hyuga continued, 'Asuka, Unit 02 isn't currently operational. Without Doctor Akagi, even with her notes, we have a very limited understanding of how to fix it.'

'Her,' Asuka corrected him.

'Her,' Hyuga agreed.

'Then what are we going to do?' Shinji asked, anxiously.

'Unit 14's sync tests are through. It's not as good as a real Evangelion, but it'll have to do. We have no other choice.'

'Then I'm going in alone,' Shinji muttered, the realisation finally hitting him.

'No!' Asuka cut in, 'if we're doing this, we're doing it together!' She was squeezing his hand now, tighter than before, and he could almost feel the blood flow cutting off and his fingers going numb.

'Asuka, we don't know if a dual sync is even possible with Unit 14,' Hyuga countered. 'In the interests of safety, we have to rely on Shinji alone.'

Shinji nodded, it wasn't the first time he'd heard that. 'Understood.'

'No!' Asuka cut in again. 'No! You can't! Shinji, you can't agree to do this by yourself!'

'It's the only way,' Shinji agreed, lowering his head, trying to ignore Asuka's outburst.

'Verdammt! I promised you we'd do this together, so that's what we'll do! Hyuga!'

Hyuga looked at the huge monitor screen on the far side of the command centre. 'Maya, how long do we have?'

'At the current rate of travel the target should reach us in approximately four hours,' she murmured almost robotically.

Hyuga seemed to be considering something.

'You have two hours to run a dual sync experiment. If it doesn't work, that gives us another two hours to fix any potential problems that might be inflicted upon Unit 14. Got it?'

'Yes, come on Shinji!' Asuka gleamed, pulling Shinji away from Hyuga and out of the command centre.

'Thank you,' Shinji whispered, unsure of whether Hyuga had heard him or not.

**Day 365**

'Happy new year everyone!' someone shouted, and suddenly there was a cork flying across the room. It landed with a quiet thud by the doorway, in which Hyuga was stood in a formal tuxedo. Linking arms with him was Maya, who looked dull and lifeless. She was wearing a black, back-less dress and high heels, she even had a splash of make-up on her face. She didn't know why she'd bothered. Hyuga glided her over to one of the tables in the corner of the cafeteria, where she levitated over the seat before finally relaxing into it.

'Happy new year, Maya,' Hyuga said with a smile, and pushed a small envelope her way. She didn't respond, all she did was stare into the distance. 'Shall I open it for you?' Hyuga asked, feigning a polite gesture. He reached for the envelope and pried open the flap. Inside was a little battered card that read "happy new year and may the next one be your best!" Hyuga pretended to smile and acted surprised at the contents of the card. 'Isn't that nice?' he asked, not expecting to get an answer.

Maya continued to stare off into the distance, like she was watching some kind of unseen spectre. She was unmoving, and resting her head on her hands and blinking very occasionally. Sometimes she would let out a little sigh or an extended exhalation, but not a word left her lips.

'You did great work with the Magi today. It's good to see one of them finally up and running again, what a great new year's gift, huh?' Hyuga said, smiling. 'Thank God Doctor Akagi's notes were left mostly intact!'

'Akagi . . .' Maya whispered, still sitting motionlessly and watching the distance.

Hyuga folded his arms and sat back in his chair. 'Oh Maya,' he murmured, 'I wish I could help you.'

She flinched a little, her eye twitching.

'Because I know how you feel. I lost someone too.'

**Day 366**

Unit 14 wasn't like the other Evangelions. With Lilith and Adam gone, there was nothing from which to create a true Evangelion. Instead, Unit 14 had been created in a rather different way. Tissue had been taken from the recovered Unit 02 and replicated in a controlled environment by Leben's top research team overseen by Maya Ibuki and grown within the cage until it was ready to be outfitted with armour. Another difference that set it aside from its predecessors was the lack of a resident soul. This had initially been seen as a potential obstacle to achieving a high enough sync ratio with the unit but Shinji had proven capable enough to sync with the unit after several berserk incidents.

Today was different however. How Unit 14 would react with two cooperating pilots was still a mystery. Shinji was nervous, and Asuka, who was still clutching his hand tightly as they entered the decontamination room, was also a little apprehensive. As they reached the decontamination chambers, they finally let go of the other's hands. 'I guess I'll see you on the other side,' Asuka said, proceeding to remove her plug suit. Shinji also casually removed his clothing without a care in the world. The two of them picked up their clothing and headed into their individual chambers, where they were blasted with warm air full of decontaminants and were finally hosed down by a bright blue liquid. Another blast of warm air dried them off, and they stepped out of their individual chambers and into the corridor to the testing labs. On the other side, Asuka stepped back in to her plug suit, whilst Shinji fumbled in his locker for his own. The tattered old suit still fit him admirably for all the time it had endured and it felt cold against his skin, but he ignored it. He once again joined hands with Asuka, who led him into the next room.

'Ah, Shinji and . . . Asuka?' a less familiar voice said cheerfully, 'Asuka? What are you doing here?'

'We're to test Unit 14 for a duel sync experiment.'

'I see,' Ayumi stated, jotting something down on her clipboard. She swished her dark hair to the side so that her fringe was out of her face. She had only been working with Leben for a few months now, but she had proven invaluable to the team on the Evangelion revival project. From what Shinji knew of her, she was kind and honest, but overly cheerful. Even in the current state of urgency she was still grinning away at the two pilots. 'I'll have the entry plug ready momentarily.'

xxx

Unit 14 was a large humanoid with features typical to an Evangelion. It was lean and became progressively thinner around the solar plexus before filling out again at the hips. It was covered in chrome plate armour with black pylons with a v-shaped chest attributed to all of the production model Evangelion units with a black band running across the waist. Its head was similar to that of Unit 02's, only instead of four eyes it had six glowing blue ones and they were exposed instead of covered by lenses. It also had six nostrils positioned on its forehead, the holes of which could just about be seen from the correct angle, and unlike Unit 02 it had a distinctive jaw plate with exposed teeth much like that of Unit 01. Shinji hadn't seen it beneath the armour, but he'd heard its skin was a dark brown like that of the other Evangelions.

He and Asuka were waiting on the umbilical bridge for Ayumi to lower the entry plug. When it reached them, the hatch slowly pried itself open, and Asuka led them both inside. Inside it was the same as any other entry plug, and Shinji was thankful for the familiarity of it in comparison to the actual unit he was driving.

'Okay, Shinji, if you'd like to take a seat?' Ayumi's voice said over the intercom as the hatch doors closed. As Shinji let go of Asuka's hand and took his place in the seat he could already feel the entry plug shaking as it moved through the air and into Unit 14.

'Will you be all right?' Asuka asked as Shinji took a deep breath.

'Yes, I think so. Thank you, Asuka,' Shinji replied. She placed a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. He hadn't taken too well to returning to the pilot seat of an Eva, but under the circumstances it was inevitable.

'Okay you two,' Ayumi's voice returned, 'better brace yourselves. Try to keep the thought noise down to a minimum; too many thought patterns can confuse the Eva's systems.'

There was a period of brief silence as the entry plug filled with LCL. Shinji had come to see the liquid as a comforting mechanism; he felt safe when he was surrounded by it and it calmed his nerves.

'All right, we're going to start the sync test, just keep doing what you're doing.'

Another period of brief silence.

'Pretty good. Shinji's solo ratio's higher, but 67% isn't bad for your first try. I don't know how Commander Hyuga will take that though; he seems more interested in playing this safe for now.'

Neither Shinji nor Asuka responded. They had nothing to say.

'Okay, well we're looking good so far. Think you can take a step forward for me?'

'We'll try,' Asuka said, and squeezed Shinji's shoulder. He nodded. There was a brief shaking of the entry plug and a loud crashing sound as Unit 14 took its first step forward. There was a sound of applause from over the intercom.

'Keep going, you two. There's a slight fluctuation but you're on the straight and narrow for now.'

Another step forward, the entry plug shook a little more. Shinji was starting to feel dizzy, as was Asuka, who was bracing herself on the pilot's seat.

'Okay, you just dropped to 33% momentarily there. Try and keep the thought noise low, okay? Great.'

Another step, this one even shakier than the last. Shinji was beginning to think they might topple over at this rate. Asuka readjusted her standing position by the seat.

'Another large drop. Are you two okay?'

_She's dead. Ritsuko's dead. Oh my God, Ritsuko's dead! She never came back. She's dead! Mother of God, she's gone!_

'Shinji, Asuka? What was-?'

_CRASH!_

Unit 14 charged into the glass separating the observatory from the testing chamber, fracturing it into tiny pieces. Ayumi jumped back in shock and was caught on the cheek by one of the flying glass shards. 'My God!' she screamed. The glass was holding for now, but Unit 14 looked as if it was preparing for another shoulder barge. 'Everyone get back!' she ordered, as she rushed to the far side of the room, pushing other researchers along with her.

_CRASH!_

The room shook violently as another layer of glass fractured into tiny, sharp pieces. There was a loud ominous roar that pierced the room as Unit 14 began to claw at the window savagely, cleaving the remaining glass in two. Now there was nothing between it and the research team inside. 'Everyone out! NOW!' Ayumi ordered, and all those in the team who had not already left filtered out through the door to the hallway. Only Ayumi stayed, staring defiantly into the six eyes of the chrome-clad beast before her.

'Stop, damn you!' she cried, as the Eva watched her with a hunger in its eyes. 'Think about Leben! Think about our work!'

Something in the Eva's glowing red eyes flickered.

'Think about the children God damn you!'

Unit 14's breathing slowed down. The eyes, all blinking out of sync with each other, finally stopped and focused on the lone researcher staring it down. It grunted, and then closed its eyes, toppling forward and catching its jaw in the window, leaving it in an uncomfortable barely upright position. It seemed unconscious, giving Ayumi the impression that it was safe to return to her monitoring equipment. She quickly pressed the button by her microphone and held it to her lips. 'Shinji! Asuka! Are you okay!'

She waited, but there was no response. She began to panic and was about to ask frantically again when Shinji's voice replied sheepishly.

'We're alive.'

She breathed a sigh of relief and rested her head on the desk in front of her. 'Thank you.'

* * *

**A/N **Hey there! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this story! Yes, I ship Asuka and Shinji, but your typical romance isn't the relationship I'm trying to portray here. Also, you'll notice a large difference between their interactions between day 0 and day 366, and the transition to this phase will be shown gradually over the course of the story.

Also, if you're wondering, Unit 01 will be coming back. Possibly even Rei. But for those of you who don't mind my little OC Evangelion Unit 14, then here's something you ought to know: it has a secret. A secret I hope you'll keep reading for. So, until next time! Cheerio!

Also vardammt means "damn it" in German.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**Day 366**

'The damage to the Eva is minimal, though the plug depth pushed the negative range for a few seconds. Physical damage is nothing more than a few scratches to the exterior, but mental damage to the unit could have occurred.' Ayumi was sitting in her chair in the observatory delivering her report to Commander Hyuga. She was twiddling her thumbs as she considered the true level f damage to Unit 14.

'Mental damage?'

'Yes. The berserk incident was no doubt caused by prolonged thought noise, a side effect of holding two pilots. There's no doubt about that; Shinji had been doing fine on his own, so the trigger was likely Asuka's presence.'

'So, Unit 14 could have experienced mental trauma as a side effect of the thought noise?'

'I believe so, yes.'

'And could this have an effect on _her_?'

'You mean- What am I saying? Of course you do. Honestly, I can't tell you, Commander.' She sighed. 'All I know is that Unit 14's mental stability is in question. Whether hers is too is unknown and with all due respect, Commander, its beyond my concern. She can't influence the Eva as directly as we'd hoped, so her state doesn't factor into the equation.'

Hyuga looked over at the face of Unit 14, which was still lodged in the window of the observatory and sighed. 'Will it be combat ready when the target arrives?'

'Honestly, sir? I really don't know . . .'

**Day 5**

The shore was absent of all sounds but the gentle, soothing rhythm of the waves. The scene would have been more comforting if _her _face wasn't lying in pieces on the horizon, still smiling into the distance. Sometimes Asuka felt like she was watching her move up and down the beach. She was certain those huge eyes were still functioning.

'Asuka?' a timid voice echoed from behind her.

'What do _you _want?' she asked bitterly, without turning her head to look at him.

'I just wanted to ask you something, Asuka,' he murmured, already feeling defeated.

'Well then go ahead and ask, dummkopf! Like I even care about you anymore! Just say it, damn you!'

'The other night I heard you talking in your sleep,' he began shyly. He noticed a movement in her sitting position. She had drawn her legs up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them. She was still wearing her battered old plug suit.

'And!?' she snapped, still avoiding eye contact with him.

'I heard my name.'

Asuka froze. Her uncomfortable movements ceased and she sat as still as a statue, staring into the eyes of the doll on the horizon. 'What?' she asked, pretending not to hear him. Her voice sounded shaken.

'You- you called for me in your sleep. Why?'

She did not respond.

'Asuka? Are you even listening to me?'

'What are you, stupid?' she asked, drawing out the words slowly and venomously. 'Go away, idiot. Leave me in peace.'

Shinji nodded, though she could not see it, and a tear rolled down his cheek. 'There's food in the tent if you're hungry,' he murmured, and retreated from the beach, up onto the pavement where his blue tent was sitting opposite Asuka's red one.

'I'm not hungry,' Asuka murmured. He had already left.

**Day 366**

'Shinji, I'm so sorry,' Asuka said, clinging onto his arm tightly. She looked genuinely upset as she stared into his lost-looking eyes. 'I was a fool. I should have just let you go alone, now Eva isn't going to work, is it?'

Shinji stared blankly at the wall. 'I don't know.'

'Do you think, if they get it working in time, that you can pilot it alone?'

'I don't know.'

She slumped into the bed on which they both sat and loosened her grip on his arm. She hated seeing him look so defeated and withdrawn, it hurt her. 'I'm sorry, Shinji. I wish I could be at your side.'

'You still can be,' he said, 'you can ask Hyuga to be present in the command centre. You can be by my side at every step.'

'But, if something happens,' she choked.

'It won't, not with you watching over me.'

Asuka nodded and hugged him, burying her head in the folds of his t-shirt and letting out a single whimper. 'I hate this,' she whispered.

'I know.'

**xxx**

'Commander, Unit 14 is ready in the cage,' Ayumi informed him over the intercom. Hyuga was in the command centre with the two young pilots anxiously waiting on his word.

'How certain are we of its operational capability?' he asked, wanting to get all of the kinks out of the system before he risked a launch.

'As long as Shinji is the only pilot, Unit 14 should remain docile and responsive.'

'Good,' Hyuga said, turning to Shinji, 'are you ready?'

'Yes,' Shinji said with as much a tone of bravery as he could muster. In truth, he was terrified, but he felt the need to look strong in front of Asuka, who was clutching his hand tightly.

'May I stay here, Hyuga?' Asuka asked, to which the commander nodded an affirmative.

'But if anything goes wrong, don't interfere. We know how our jobs work, you don't,' Hyuga cautioned.

'I won't interfere,' Asuka promised. Shinji's hand slipped out of hers and she almost flinched at the absence of contact with him. 'Come back alive, understood?' she told him. He nodded slowly.

'I will. I promise.'

'Good.'

Shinji looked at Hyuga and then back at Asuka, upon whom his eyes settled for a long time, before finally turning and making a run for the cage. He couldn't bear to wait around any longer, if he had to go and fight, he wanted to get out there now and avoid wasting time wallowing in his own self pity.

Asuka watched as he disappeared through the doors to the cage. 'He'll be all right, won't he?' she asked without taking her eyes away from the door.

'He's done this before, he'll be okay,' Hyuga comforted her.

'He isn't ready.'

There was a moment of silence, and all that could be heard was the buzzing of computer monitors and the flicking of switches and clicking of buttons and keyboards. Asuka surveyed the three main technicians gather around their equipment facing the giant monitor across the room. Maya was the only one of them left from Third Impact, as Aoba had vanished and Hyuga had assumed command responsibilities. The other two technicians were new in the sense they had never had to direct combat in this way before, though their reliability was without question. Both of them had been studying under Maya's instruction, even if it had been an emotionless series of lectures. Asuka took a good look at Maya, noticing how her hair was still kept nice and short and tidy, but how all of her other features seemed uncared for. She was so skinny that her cheekbones seemed to protrude from her face, and her skin was paler than ever. Her eyes seemed to sink into her skull, and they remained more lifeless than ever. It was odd, when Maya had first returned to them, she had coped far better with her circumstances, but now she had become a lifeless, motionless wreck. It reminded Asuka of how her mother had been when she was younger.

'I'm ready,' Shinji's voice suddenly came over the intercom, echoing around the command centre. Hyuga positioned himself upright and cleared his throat, instantly assuming a formal position as hands-on commander of Leben.

'Okay, Shinji. Maya, prepare to launch.'

Maya's head nodded slowly as she flicked a switch on her dashboard. The command centre monitor flickered and displayed an aerial shot of the city waterfront, where a large structure in the ground rolled open. Two guide rails emerged, and Evangelion Unit 14 appeared surrounded by an electrical hum of energy.

'I don't see the target,' Shinji observed. Unit 14's head looked about as if surveying the area. 'What exactly should I be looking for?'

Hyuga looked down at the floor and then back at the monitor. 'I can't say for sure, Shinji, but I'd imagine it won't look too dissimilar from an Angel or an Eva.'

'Right,' Shinji's tone reflected confirmation. 'Asuka, are you with me?'

'I'm here, Shinji!' she called out, watching the monitor intently.

'Thank you.'

For a moment a sickening quiet intruded upon the command centre. So far, the target had yet to appear, and nobody had much else to say to one another. Hyuga was becoming weary of the absence of the target, and began to worry that something else was afoot. 'Maya, is Balthasar still picking up the target?'

'Negative,' she said, 'no readings detected.'

'What, how can that be possible?'

_CRASH!_

A light blue colour suddenly filled the monitor, temporarily blinding the Leben personnel from seeing what was going on on Shinji's end. When the huge tidal wave subsided, Unit 14 was on its back, clawing its way up the slope of a hill and trying to get away from the waterfront. Something was emerging from the water.

'Shinji!' Asuka cried, desperately wishing she could be there to help him and cursing herself for resigning herself so quickly after one failed experiment.

'Maya, report!' Hyuga demanded.

'The target is back on sensors. Looks like it somehow managed to disguise itself from Balthasar,' she stated with no sense of urgency.

'Shinji!' Hyuga called, 'are you still with us?'

'I'm here!' Shinji called back with a strained voice. Unit 14 pulled itself upright to face the threat from the waterfront. It was a large pink-white humanoid with a pair of long membraned wings like a bait. It's head was long and protrusive, and it had three eyes running horizontally down each side of its face. It's large red lips were pulled into a sickening smile and its tongue was hanging from its mouth.

'Mein Gott!' Asuka exclaimed, as the image conjured up memories of the flying harpies, the ones that killed her Unit 02, and disembowelled her. The ones that did horrible things to her.

'Is that-' Shinji's voice was cut off as the creature tackled him to the ground ferociously. Unit 14 was on its back, arms pinned by the creature's powerful legs. It raised its arms into the air and joined its hands together, linkings its fingers tightly, and brought them down on Unit 14's head.

'There's a crack in the cranial plating,' Maya muttered, not watching the scene, but instead staring at the screen on her desk with a glazed over expression.

'Shinji, you need to fight back!' Hyuga cried.

'I'm here, Shinji,' Asuka said as calmly as she could. 'Do it for me. Get up and kill that bastard.'

Unit 14 swung its leg into the creature's back, causing it howl in pain and shakily clamber off Unit 14's body. Unit 14 reached out and grabbed the monster's leg before it could amble away, and pulled so that it tripped onto its face. There was a loud crash and a swirl of dust erupted around the fallen creature as it screeched a high-pitched noise.

'Yes!' Asuka cried, 'you can do it Shinji!'

Within the entry plug, Shinji was clutching onto the controls tightly. He clumsily brought Unit 14 back onto its feet and walked over to the face-down body of the enemy. Suddenly, a blast of air erupted from the creature and knocked Unit 14 away, sending it flying back towards the waterfront. The creature began to levitate as if it were a rag doll, limbs limp and head hanging low and tongue dripping saliva from its gaping mouth. 'AT field detected,' Maya announced uncaringly.

'Oh no, Shinji!' Asuka called. He did not respond. Unit 14 was lying on its back and unmoving, with the umbilical cable tied wrapped around its mid section. 'Scheiße!'

The creature hovered over to where Unit 14 was now lying on the ground. Another whoosh of air from beneath it signalled the end to its levitation and it came crashing back down to the ground, wings flapping. It went down on all fours and crawled over to Unit 14 like a cat, before grabbing the umbilical cable in its jaws. Before Shinji could react the umbilical cable was severed, and the familiar sound of urgent beeping entered everyone's ears.

The creature grabbed Unit 14 by the shoulders ad lifted it into the air. For a moment it seemed to just stare at the Eva, until suddenly a bulbous growth began at the base of its neck. The already elongated head grew longer, rapidly, and the monster bit into Unit 14's neck. Shinji howled in pain and Unit 14 thrashed about in agony. The creature made a gurgling sound that seemed like an attempt at laughing.

'I know what to do,' Maya said, as if she had suddenly been enlightened. She sounded surprised herself. Suddenly, her hands were working away at the keyboard before her, pressing every button her hands happened to drift across, whilst the monitor continued to display images of the monster sinking its teeth into different parts of Unit 14's body. Crimson red trickled down its chrome plating. 'Done,' Maya murmured, and the sound of Unit 14 powering down filled the room.

'Maya, what the hell are you doing!?' Hyuga questioned angrily. Unit 14 was now limp in the creature's grasp, and it suddenly seemed uninterested in biting the Evangelion further. It dropped Unit 14 to the ground, where it slowly slipped into a prostate position.

'Shinji! Can you hear me, are you all right!' Asuka shouted, ignoring Hyuga's concern.

'I'm alive,' he responded dimly.

'Thank God.'

Hyuga paced over to Maya's chair, grabbed it, and swung her around to face him. 'Maya! Answer me!'

'Watch,' she replied, avoiding eye contact with him.

Hyuga looked at the screen and was horrified to see the creature on the move towards the open hatch from which Unit 14 had launched. It seemed to be stuck in position and unable to close. 'My God, it can get right to us,' he observed.

'Asuka, Hyuga, I'm sorry,' Shinji whimpered over the intercom. 'I couldn't stop it in time.'

'Don't worry,' Maya whispered over the intercom in an unfittingly malicious sounding voice. 'I'm here.'

'M-maya? What are you talking about?'

_For Ritsuko. For Shinji. I don't want to but I must._

'Where's that voice!?' Shinji called.

'What are you talking about?' Hyuga asked, 'Shinji, what voice?'

_I never wanted to hurt anything. But I don't have a choice._

'Is that you?'

'Shinji! Is that who? Who are you talking to?' Hyuga's voice was becoming increasingly worried.

_For Ritsuko. _

Red. Everything was red. Its eyes were red. Its blood was red. Its vision was red. Its armour was chrome. It stood, uneven at first, but then it gained its footing. Its target was in sight. It didn't want to, but it had no choice. There was also something else there too. Something that longed for blood that contrasted with the other self that was reluctant to harm. The two personalities clashed and warped, and became Eva.

It took off at a surprising rate, laughing itself through the air at such a speed that a shock wave reverberated from where it had stood and blasted the surrounding tress in all directions. It landed foot first on its prey's back, sending it sprawling to the ground only metres away from the launch hatch. It shrieked and its host screamed wildly as it plunged its fist into its prey's back, ripping open a massive gash over the creature's spine. The bone was exposed as the monster writhed about beneath its assailant. Something inside it sensed an overwhelming feeling of terror, something it had never experienced before. It realised it was afraid of fear, and it screamed.

Blood flew through the air in unceremonious splatters. Skin, ripped and peeled and battered, lay about the ground as the chrome beast pummelled into its preys back. Finally the spinal chord revealed itself and the best pulled upon it, tearing out its preys spine and skull. The prey withered up into a ball and lay on its side, exposing the glowing red core in its abdomen. Unit 14 clawed at the sphere ferociously until it cracked into pieces, spilling red liquid out across the floor in a lake-sized puddle. The victorious beast reared its head and began to tear at the flesh of the prey with its serrated teeth, pulling off every ounce of flesh and lapping it up. It was hungry for carnage and blood. It was not satisfied.

Once it had devoured its prey full and whole, the beast stood and raised its chrome metallic arms in the air and beat its hands against its chest in a continuous motion. It roared a triumphant call of victory and leaped through the air towards the emergence hatch. Standing over the gaping hole in the ground, its six eyes shuddered closed and it fell limp down the hatch.

Nobody in the command centre dared to move. Even Asuka was frozen on the spot, staring at the bloodied carcass of the creature that had, for a moment, defeated Unit 14. 'Shinji,' she murmured, and looked at Hyuga. 'We have to go now!' she pleaded. Hyuga looked between her and Maya, who was still as lifeless as before, only now she seemed to have a mischievous smile playing on her lips.

'All right, come on. Hurry!' he said, leading Asuka out of the command centre towards the cages.

Maya turned in her chair and looked back at her computer. 'You're welcome.'

* * *

**A/N **Well, I hope you're enjoying the story so far, but remember: feedback is appreciated. If you have anything to say please drop a review or send me a PM, and most of all, keep reading!


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